Queer|Art|Film's Summer Season Announced

Queer|Art, New York City's home for the creative and professional development of LGBTQ+ artists, is pleased to announce the Summer 2019 season of Queer|Art|Film at IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue at West 3rd St.), May 13-August 26. Curated by filmmakers Ira Sachs and Adam Baran, the season features films about (and starring) fierce, funny, and fabulous women, presented by a multigenerational lineup of queer drag icons, playwrights, and performance artists.

A highlight of the season, coinciding with Lower East Side History Month, is a special screening of Split, a 1993 documentary about East Village legend International Chrysis, presented by Chrysis' drag daughter Perfidia on the evening of May 13. This screening will include a panel on Chrysis' legacy with some of her closest friends and biggest fans. A full itinerary follows. All screenings begin at 8pm.

Monday, May 13
Perfidia presents Split
(Ellen Fisher Turk, 1993)

GAG! Queer|Art|Film's winter season, Winter's a Drag, is extended with a screening of this 1993 documentary about East Village legend International Chrysis. Kicked out of her Bronx home at age 14 for what she said were "differences in taste" with her family concerning her wardrobe, she flourished downtown during the 70s as a singer and showgirl. She was daughter to Flawless Sabrina and a mother to many queens including our guest presenter, Perfidia, who remembers her fondly. "She literally was the first person to put me in full drag...from there we shared our lives." We'll screen Split, plus other rare clips, followed by a panel on Chrysis' legacy with some of her closest friends Brian Belovitch (theater artist and author of Trans Figured) and Connie Fleming (international supermodel and legendary Downtown "It" girl). Winter's a Drag co-curators Adam Baran and Lady Quesa'Dilla host.

Perfidia on Split:

"When I moved to New York 1985, I was lucky enough to rent a room with Clark Render whose other tenant was International Chrysis, the muse to Salvador Dali. At the time I had never met a trans person and really didn't even know what kind of pronouns to use around her. Her famous line was, 'Well, Do I look like a man?'. She literally was the first person to put me in full drag and encouraged me to go on to entertain at Boy Bar, where I was crowned Miss Boy Bar 1986. From there we shared our lives and she was my drag mother. Through her I met so many trans superstars like Jayne County and Romy Haag. But most of all, she was mother to all of the Boy Bar queens and Pyramid queens. I still think of her every day. Like the line from Hedwig: 'How can I say who touched me the most?'"

Monday, June 24
Raja Feather Kelly presents Death Becomes Her
(Robert Zemeckis, 1992)

Some people will go to any length to be young forever. Hollywood socialites Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) are lifelong rivals, competing for men, fame, and beauty. When Helen appears to have the final upper hand, Madeline will stop at nothing to change that-paying the ultimate price to do so. This wickedly funny cult classic has had an immense impact on tonight's presenter, choreographer Raja Feather Kelly, who says, "These inexorable women, in this movie and in real life, are vessels of expression, humility, caricature, and something akin to the surreal. As a queer boy living in Barbie world, Death Becomes Her is what I wear to work. "

Monday, July 8
Christian John Wikane presents Thank God It's Friday
(Robert Klane, 1978)

It's Friday night, 1978, and a crowd of cool cats are headed to LA's hottest disco looking for love, lust, drugs, and dancing! Most famous among them is Donna Summer, who plays an aspiring singer trying to convince the disco's DJ to let her perform her new song "Last Dance" (which quickly became Summer's biggest hit). Tonight's guest presenter, music journalist and essayist Christian John Wikane, is a veritable scholar of disco and an expert on all things related to tonight's film. Wikane will be organizing a panel with some of disco's biggest aficionados to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Last Dance" winning an Oscar, Grammy, and cementing itself as a timeless anthem of the disco genre.

Monday, August 26
Brooke O'Harra presents 9 to 5
(Colin Higgins, 1980)

For anyone who has been overworked, underpaid, and pushed to the edge by an ungrateful boss, tonight's your night! In 9 to 5, three working women say enough is enough, stick it to the man, and take the office into their own hands. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton form a winning alliance in this hit 1980 comedy, remembered fondly by tonight's presenter, playwright and director Brooke O'Harra: "I first saw 9 to 5 when I was 7 or 8 years old. I've been thinking about the #metoo movement and how this movie made me think then about harassment and the possibility of women banding together even before I knew what working in an office was like."

About Queer|Art|Film

Presently celebrating its 10th consecutive year, this popular screening series, held monthly at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village, invites New York's most notable and influential LGBTQ+ artists to present and discuss films that have inspired them. Presented with generous support from HBO, the series has hosted over 100 screenings and reaches more than 1,500 viewers annually. Past presenters include: Anohni, Kate Bornstein, Douglas Crimp, Miguel Guitierrez, Juliana Huxtable, Wayne Kostenbaum, Larry Kramer, Lisa Kron, Kia LaBeija, Craig Lucas, Genesis P-Orridge, Dee Rees, and Flawless Sabrina. Curated by Adam Baran and Ira Sachs, with special guest season curators.

About Queer|Art

Queer|Art was born out of the recognition of a generation of artists and audiences lost to the ongoing AIDS Crisis, and in a profound understanding that one of the many repercussions of that loss has been a lack of mentors and role models for a new generation of LGBTQ+ artists. Founded in 2009 by filmmaker Ira Sachs, Queer|Art serves as a ballast against this loss and seeks to highlight and address a continuing fundamental lack of both economic and institutional support for LGBTQ+ artists. Our mission is to provide individuals within our community with the tools, resources, and guidance they need to achieve success and visibility for their work at the highest levels of their field.

The current programs of Queer|Art include: the year-long Queer|Art|Mentorship program; the long-running Queer|Art|Film series, held monthly at the IFC Center in lower Manhattan; and Queer|Art|Awards, an initiative of grants, prizes, and awards that provides various kinds of direct support-monetary and otherwise-to LGBTQ+ artists.

A list of the intergenerational community of artists supported and brought together by Queer|Art includes: Silas Howard, Jennie Livingston, Matt Wolf, Hilton Als, Sarah Schulman, Pamela Sneed, Justin Vivian Bond, Jibz Cameron, Trajal Harrell, John Kelly, Geoffrey Chadsey, Everett Quinton, Geo Wyeth, Angela Dufresne, Nicole Eisenman, Avram Finkelstein, Chitra Ganesh, Pati Hertling, Jonathan Katz, Tourmaline & Sasha Wortzel, Jess Barbagallo, Morgan Bassichis, Monstah Black, Yve Laris Cohen, Troy Michie, Tommy Pico, Justin Sayre, Colin Self, Jacolby Satterwhite, Rick Herron, and Hugh Ryan, among many others.